Save the Children International (SCI) has revealed that an additional one million children in Nigeria will suffer from acute malnutrition by April next year if urgent action is not taken against extreme flooding, escalating violence and rampant food shortages.
Blueprint reports that analysis of new hunger data from Cadre Harmonisé the leading regional authority on the severity of hunger crises in the Sahel and West Africa showed that 5.4 million children are now at risk of facing acute malnutrition by next April, a 25% increase compared to the 4.4 this past April.
The Country Director of SCI in Nigeria, Duncan Harvey, in a press release said in Nigeria, the crisis is reaching unprecedented levels as catastrophic climate disasters, escalating insecurity, and soaring prices threaten to leave over 16 million children hungry.
He said urgent action is essential to combat this devastating and unacceptable trend of child hunger and malnutrition and ensure a brighter future for Nigeria’s children.
“Save the Children is calling on governments to address food insecurity by tackling food shortages, stabilize rising prices, and increase protection for farmers facing violence from armed groups.
“Governments also need to address the climate crisis by building communities’ resilience, as well as more awareness and early warning for people to prepare for climate induced disasters.
“Save the Children has been working in Nigeria since 2001 and has been responding to the humanitarian crisis in the northeast since 2014.
” Save the Children is providing food, clean water, nutrition and protection services, sexual and reproductive health care, and education to families across Nigeria.
“Save the Children also provides technical support to the government on policy changes and reforms, especially in critical sectors such as health, education, and social protection,” he said .
He said among them, about 1.8 million could be experiencing Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) the deadliest form of malnutrition that compromises children’s immune systems and turns otherwise treatable illnesses, such as diarrhea, potentially lethal.
This represents an alarming 80% increase in SAM cases.
Aisha, 27, mother of 6, speaking at the Save the Children’s clinic in Damaturu, said hunger has entered my daughter’s body and she has emaciated terribly because I am unable to breastfeed her.
” I don’t produce breast milk. It has affected her growth compared to other children; she was stooling profusely” “we are grateful to Save the Children for the support at the center.”
Also, a child campaigner from Katsina Hajara,15, said she is so worried about how food insecurity is hitting children in our community. With banditry everywhere, farmers cannot go to farms so food is getting harder to find.
“Lots of children go to bed hungry, and malnutrition is going up, leaving us tired and unable to concentrate in school. We need our leaders to step up, bring security back, and help us get the support we need so every child here can grow up safe, well-fed, and healthy.”
